Acetaminophen as a cause of the autism pandemic? It makes absolutely no sense … at first.

By William Parker, Ph.D. Duke University Medical Center Special to SafeMinds

My research looks at what causes harmful inflammation in people in Western societies. The triggers of inflammation are recent developments in human history, appearing after the agricultural revolution only 10,000 years ago. Most did not appear until just a few decades ago, as we entered the post-industrial age [1]. My favorite example is the loss of biodiversity from the human body. Humans have always been bathed inside and out with bacteria, viruses, fungi, worms, and other organisms, but in recent decades our bodies’ ecosystems have become much less diverse, to our detriment.

Inflammation can be described simply as an aggressive immune response. It’s not a bad thing, and in fact is necessary under certain circumstances. However, inflammation in Western society has gotten out of control, resulting in pandemics of allergies, autoimmune conditions, and increased rates of cancer.

I’ll list the main factors known to cause inflammation in humans living in Western society.

These are the “big five”:

Loss of biodiversity (biome depletion)

Inflammatory diets

Sedentary lifestyles

Chronic psychological stress

Vitamin D deficiency

Scientists hypothesize that if we could eliminate these five factors, we would virtually eliminate allergies and autoimmune disorders [2, 3]. We also think that the rate of cancer would drop profoundly [4, 5].

Most importantly for this discussion, the rate of neuropsychiatric disorders is expected to plummet if we could control these five factors [6, 7]. The high rates of autism should drop dramatically [6, 7].

People need to make drastic lifestyle changes. Those might not happen overnight. But, fortunately, sometimes there is another way to avoid an inflammatory disease. If we can identify a “trigger,” a necessary factor that interacts with inflammation to cause a specific disease, then we can avoid that specific disease. We can’t avoid ragweed pollen to avoid hay fever, and we can’t avoid food to avoid food allergies, but it looks like we may be in luck when it comes to avoiding autism. An apparent and easily avoidable trigger for autism has been found.

Steve Schultz is the scientist who identified what appears to be an important trigger for autism. He was a practicing dentist for 21 years before going back to school to earn a Ph.D. in an effort to determine why his son, Nathan, had regressed into autism. Based on his personal observations, Schultz at first thought that it was the MMR vaccine, but that had already been tested and it looked like a dead end. There was not going to be any way to get a Ph.D. working on that. However, as Schultz explained in his book, “Understanding Autism: My quest for Nathan”:

“Then I remembered that Nathan had gotten so sick from the MMR vaccine and how I had given him so much acetaminophen. Perhaps there was something about acetaminophen.”

Schultz was thinking about the acetaminophen. My first thought would be that this makes no sense. Why would one of the most commonly used drugs on the planet, known to fight inflammation, lead to an inflammatory disease such as autism? My second and third thoughts would be the same: Schultz’s thinking makes no sense. The presence of some sort of toxin might be the trigger, but acetaminophen?

But Schultz was running out of possible suspects.

With zero evidence, Schultz began to examine acetaminophen. As a detective investigates the last remaining suspect, Schultz started to work on acetaminophen not because he was suspicious of this much loved pain reliever, but because there was no other culprit to examine.

Quickly, he found plenty of reason to be suspicious.

Acetaminophen was the last remaining drug in a particular class of relatively toxic drugs that is derived from coal tar. It was, even at that time, the only drug left in its class not discontinued because of toxicity. It was already known to be associated with the development of asthma in children [8]. Oddly enough, it was not known if acetaminophen actually worked to alleviate fever in children [9].

Acetaminophen rapidly gained traction as a great suspect. First, Schultz found that the rise in autism corresponded to the rise in acetaminophen use. The first cases of autism happened around the time when coal-tar derived drugs, which give rise to acetaminophen upon metabolism, were introduced. Then Schultz did what is, in my view, a marvelous thing. He remembered two cases of deadly poisonings in which drugs containing acetaminophen were tampered with, first in 1982 and then in 1986. These two events caused temporary declines in the use of acetaminophen. Schultz’s initial test would be simple. If indeed acetaminophen was a possible culprit, then the steady, decades-long rise in autism should be punctuated by two brief periods of relief.

As Schultz explained:

“I saw that children born during both of these acetaminophen poisoning episodes were less likely to have autism. And I knew. Acetaminophen use was linked to the rise in autism rates.”

He went on to test this idea further. He performed and then published a retrospective survey in 2008 [10]. The results were clear:

“Children who used acetaminophen at age 12 to 18 months were more than eight times as likely to be in the autism group when all children were considered and more than 20 times as likely to be in the autism group when limiting cases to children with regression.”

There was no similar autism effect with ibuprofen. In fact, as Schultz explained to me recently by email, “I did not see a direct association with any of the vaccines themselves. It was only the combination of acetaminophen and the MMR vaccine which increased autism risk.”

Schultz had data that should have warned the world. The study pointed singularly at acetaminophen. Not a vaccine. A bad reaction to a vaccine plus ibuprofen was not associated with autism. A bad reaction to a vaccine plus acetaminophen was associated with autism.

Yet, the world didn’t seem to notice.

Parents were still grabbing Infants’ Tylenol and other popular brand-name, acetaminophen-containing medications targeted at children off of the shelf like hot-cakes.

Schultz’s study was small and it shouldn’t be the final word on the topic. It isn’t. A lot of information has accumulated since Schultz’s first published it seven years ago:

The same year that Schultz published his first work on the topic, a large, multinational study found a dose dependent association between use of acetaminophen and asthma, rhinoconjuctivitis, and eczema [11].

A number of scientists have independently published molecular mechanisms by which acetaminophen can induce inflammation [12-15]. The drug can profoundly alter toxin metabolism and inflammatory processes in the body. It actually makes sense that acetaminophen causes brain damage in some children. In fact, based on how the drug affects the body, it would be surprising if the drug didn’t put a baby’s developing brain at risk.

A very large study in Norway showed that the use of acetaminophen by mothers during pregnancy was associated with developmental problems in children at three years of age [16]. Children had problems with their emotions, aggression, attention, and gross motor skills. Ibuprofen use was not associated with these problems.

A study at UCLA in collaboration with scientists in Denmark and Taiwan found that use of acetaminophen during pregnancy is associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [17]. To quote the authors, “Results did not appear to be confounded by maternal inflammation, infection during pregnancy, the mother’s mental health problems, or other (variables they examined)”.

An interesting epidemiologic study suggested that use of acetaminophen at the time of circumcision might account for many cases of autism [18]. Since many parents are unaware of acetaminophen use following circumcision, an epidemiologic study may be the best tool to examine this issue.Yet, to this day, a definitive study has never been conducted to see if acetaminophen works better than traditional methods of cooling down the body (e.g., using a cool towel) to relieve fever.Parents still believe it’s a safe and effective medication for children. Marketing and the herd mentality, rather than scientific evidence, still dictate behavior, even for medical professionals recommending the drug.Maybe in the future, what we now call autism will be a condition of historical interest known as “acetaminophen-induced neurodevelopmental disorder.”Just maybe.Nobody can know for sure.What we do know is that acetaminophen is bad for a fetus and bad for a baby.

In the meantime, what should parents do?

Don’t give any acetaminophen-containing medication to your child or take it while pregnant. Seek a physician’s help if your child is ill, and keep in mind the fact that we tend to overmedicate. Somehow our society has become convinced that chemicals which alter brain function are generally good for babies. This is almost certainly a tragic error. For example, a report on WebMD, co-authored by a representative from the pharmaceutical industry, states that over-the-counter cold products should never be used on children under 4 years old.

Check every label: Acetaminophen is found in literally hundreds of drugs. One list can be found here. Acetaminophen is known by other names (paracetamol and paracetamolo) in other countries. Education and awareness are the keys.

Don’t let medical personnel administer the drug to your child. It is the go-to drug for many things, from circumcision to vaccination, in many clinics and hospitals around the world.

Be proactive and spread the word. Share this information with people you know. I find that people with grown children, with future grandbabies on their mind, are particularly interested. Post a link to this article on Facebook. Tweet it to your friends. Print it out and hand it to your child’s doctor. Given the available data, you might be able to prevent a case of autism simply by letting a hundred people know about the connection between acetaminophen and brain injury to children.

William Parker began his research career as an undergraduate in the mid-1980s studying immunology and biochemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1992, studying the biophysical properties of biological macromolecules. Since then, his research has focused on how our immune system functions in the Western world to cause inflammation. He is best known for discovering the function of the human vermiform appendix, answering a 400-year-old question first posed by Leonardo da Vinci. His most recent work probing the role of helminths in normal immune function has led to new and more feasible approaches to helminthic therapy as well as the view that helminthic therapy may help treat a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders. Much of William’s current work involves how increasing biodiversity with helminths protects the brain, both during development [19] and in adulthood [20]. It works. As a scientist, William is impartial about acetaminophen. He is not the one who identified it as a trigger for autism. In fact, identification of acetaminophen as a trigger for autism means that his work on biome depletion and restoration can be ignored when developing a plan to prevent autism. You don’t need a helminth to prevent autism. Thankfully!

Bilbo, S.D., J.P. Jones, and W. Parker, Is autism a member of a family of diseases resulting from genetic/cultural mismatches? Implications for treatment and prevention. Autism Research and Treatment, 2012. 2012: p. 1-11.

Bilbo, S.D., C.D. Nevison, and W. Parker, A model for the induction of autism in the ecosystem of the human body: the anatomy of a modern pandemic? Microb Ecol Health Dis, 2015. 26: p. 26253.

Beasley, R., et al., Association between paracetamol use in infancy and childhood, and risk of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and eczema in children aged 6-7 years: analysis from Phase Three of the ISAAC programme. Lancet, 2008. 372(9643): p. 1039-48.

Becker, K.G. and S.T. Schultz, Similarities in features of autism and asthma and a possible link to acetaminophen use. Medical Hypotheses, 2010. 74(1): p. 7-11.

Shaw, W., Evidence that Increased Acetaminophen use in Genetically Vulnerable Children Appears to be a Major Cause of the Epidemics of Autism, Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity, and Asthma. Journal of Restorative Medicine, 2013. 2: p. 1-16.

The study that came out recently (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26688372) supports a strong suspicion of mine: acetaminophen exposure to infants/babies/young children might be MUCH more dangerous than acetaminophen exposure to pregnant mothers. The effect on pregnant mothers is real, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not "very much". It would be unwise, obviously, to needlessly incur even a small increased risk of autism for any reason. However, the increased risk of autism following exposure during pregnancy is actually a little less than 2-fold, and it's only for one type of autism that accounts for only about 25% of total cases. This is not responsible for the great disaster that we think may be unfolding. It's certainly something to be avoided, but my long-held suspicion is that exposure to the baby is far, far worse. I hypothesize that this has to do, in part, with the known fact that the baby's liver is not able to process the drug nearly as well as an adult liver. Thus, the baby's ability to handle other toxic burdens is greatly compromised, as described in the original article. This idea of enhanced danger to the baby but not the fetus also agrees well with some of the observations described in the article. In other words, although acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy still holds some danger, the mother's liver probably protects the fetus, for the most part. So, it's quite possible that the risk of autism when treating babies with acetaminophen is literally a hundred-fold greater than the risk of exposure to a pregnant mother. I am currently working on a manuscript explaining this issue, and I hope that a prospective experiment involving "acetaminophen withdrawal" in the neonate/pediatric population at a major medical center will soon be conducted. Such an experiment will be required to test the idea, I would imagine.

Since this article was written, the results of a large prospective cohort study, Liew et al. 2015, have been published supporting the hypothesis presented here.
64,322 children and mothers enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC; 1996-2002) were followed for an average of 12.7 years to investigate whether acetaminophen use in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of autism (ASD) in the offspring. Prenatal use of acetaminophen was associated with an increased risk of ASD accompanied by hyperkinetic symptoms (HR = 1.51 95% CI 1.19-1.92), but not with other ASD cases (HR = 1.06 95% CI 0.92-1.24). Longer duration of use (i.e., use for >20 weeks in gestation) increased the risk of ASD or infantile autism with hyperkinetic symptoms almost twofold.
They concluded: Maternal use of acetaminophen in pregnancy was associated with ASD with hyperkinetic symptoms only, suggesting acetaminophen exposure early in fetal life may specifically impact this hyperactive behavioral phenotype.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26688372

The grandmother is reporting her observations, which I absolutely do not question. However, she may be unaware that babies are routinely given acetaminophen when they are circumcised. In an article on "circumcision care" (reference below), the University of Michigan Health System states that "Your baby will be given acetaminophen (Tylenol) after the circumcision for pain control WITH YOUR PERMISSION." (My emphasis on the permission). What often happens is that you give permission for the circumcision, but then why would you be asked for permission to control the pain? That makes no sense. What mother would want circumcision with no pain control, so why bother to ask? Even if the parents were asked, would they remember in this exciting time at the hospital?
So, in a nutshell, it is often difficult to know if you baby (male in particular) actually received acetaminophen.
Reference: http://obgyn.med.umich.edu/sites/obgyn.med.umich.edu/files/handouts/ph_circ_care_0-07.pdf

my grandson had no Tylenol or other pain and fever killers. As a newborn infant he was given those two awful immunizations. At the time, we knew little about any immunizations except I felt strongly that no newborn should have vaccines put into their still format no bodies. Nurse only asked Mom if she wanted them for her son before going home while she was alone in the hospital. She thought vaccines were a good thing so she got them. When she told me he'd had his shots and was ready to go home....I had a fit....As gently but as forceful as possible. Mom was still hurt, she thought it was a good thing. From the day we got him home, he screamed, eyes open wide, huge gushing tears, rubbing his little head with his hands and 'talking' while sobbing. We had never seen such a behavior in newborns who are usually in lala land. He was extremely aware. Sobbed and sobbed, arching his back. Had to get a pacifier but the little guy gab beret around the pacifier while sobbing. HE HAD IT. ! BOY, did he have it. It took weeks to settle him and he became kind of loggy. The at about 6 months old,,he began to smile and jabber happily while blowing spit bubbles,,as I'd expect a 6 month old to do. He even began to say words at 9 months old, Dada, Momma,,very clearly. But, he couldn't sit up by himself nor crawl. He'd roll over the pallet to get a toy. His attention was also hard to get. Dr. who delivered him said he was only a little floppy muscularly,..and I thought it might be sever colic. He just nodded. So began years of therapy and testing at our states children's hospital. He had 3 DNA tests there, two early on and one later. The molecular DNA dr. Who,did the tests told us, well, he has no markers on any of the sites that might show retardation and he has no markers on the autism genes known, 7 at that time and some 21 on the second test. He said, we don't know what this is that he has but he sure has something. It was later labeled as autism. He's still largely non vocal at age 21 and has some crippling of his legs. The main thing of change in him was changing to the gluten, dairy and soy free diet, with many many supplements for therapy. His neurologist at children's hospital,asked what they had done to this child since he was turned around 180 degrees. But, he only received a few vaccines after that. No one pressed Mom to get any more either. And as an infant, as said, he never had any Tylenol nor anything for pain killer. After that first 18 months, when he would not nap nor sleep at night but screamed and cried endlessly, is when I began an online search and found info about this new unnamed malady many kids had and found one grandma who had researched farther and found the dietary help. She posted it on Yahoo health Leonard list where I saw it and got in touch with her. She created a website to list gluten free products with research by many Moms and Dads besides herself that has been a tremendous help to so many. Www,gfcfdiet.com. But that's the just the gist of our story. Wanted to tell you, no acetomenephins after the diet was started and my research grew. Grandma peg

I'm sorry to hear about your grandson. There is a long history of 'mercury doctors' poisoning people with mercury. Much of the symptoms of autism are very similar to those of acrodynia, mercury poisoning.
http://www.whale.to/v/Acrodyniacomp.pdf
http://www.mercuryfreekids.org/eli-lilly/

I have just watched Kerry Scott Lane's video and I highly recommend it. This puts in persepective why some people are more susceptible to neurotoxic poisoning. In laymen's terms, (hopefully I'm not butchering this) if glutathione in the the body is depleted at the time of vacination, the body has no way to remove the offending toxicants, and this creates a continuous cycle of damage. So your grandchild or your daughter may not have taken acetaminophen, but they didn't need to if glutathione levels were down.

To answer the above two questions requires insight into what has occurred since the late 1970s. While working at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the lab of the famous Gastroenterologist, Dr. John Partin, an expert on Reye's Syndrome, we were searching for the possible cause of this, which had a mortality rate of 50% and an incidence that peaked at about 5 per million.
As I was looking into the toxicology of Aflatoxin, first suspected as a cause of Reye's by Dr. Reye of Australia, I was struck by the similarity of the toxicology of aflatoxin and aspirin, as they both uncouple mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Hence the use of aspirin as a fever reducer, as it slows down the mitochondrial "Furnace". I suggested this to Dr. Partin, and he and Dr. William Shubert published a seminal paper on this a few years later. The common wisdom then became to not use aspirin in the Pediatric population. Tylenol became in vogue despite many concerns about it's toxicity. So, the Autism Epidemic began in the early 1980s, and I can, unfortunately, take some small credit for that....
It pains me to see how this has transpired into the Pediatric Neuropsychiatric Epidemic it has become over the last 35 years.
Having studied the toxicology of Acetaminophen and how it depletes Glutathione, the bodies Master Antioxidant, it is clear as day to me, the trigger for Regressive Autism is Tylenol/Acetaminophen/Paracetamol. With limited or near zero Glutathione in the brain at time of vaccination, the body is unable to detoxify the metals in the vaccines via the Metallothionein system. Hence the children regress in the peri-vaccination period due to a Synergism between Tylenol and metal Adjuvants in vaccines.
Hence- the Autism vaccination link. As pointed out by William Shaw Ph.D., Cuba has the highest vaccination rate in the world bot virtually zero Autism. Why?-they have none and use no Tylenol in Cuba. CASE CLOSED!!!
As to the question what happened with the 'Stealth Recall" of all Tylenol in the US, there is an explanation that was never really adequately publicized. I spoke before an FDA panel of 30 plus experts in 2009 explaining my theory of Autism Causality and acetaminophen. My talk pointed directly at the synergism between Acetaminophen and Gliotoxin, a fungal/yeast toxin produced by Candida and Aspergillus, which has the unfortunate side effect of binding to and depleting Glutathione, like acetaminophen. Quite a coincidence..!!!
.What happened next? The FDA raided the Ft. Washington, PA. plant and found numerous hygiene, sanitation and manufacturing deficiencies, including contamination of the manufacturing drums for Tylenol with the Aspergillus mold producing Gliotoxin, and the spores that generate same.
Being the responsible Corporation they are, the manufacturer removed all Tylenol from every store in the USA, but never revealed why...Now you know why...FDA and USDOJ were involved in a Consent Decree on this matter, the first time in history such a collaboration has happened.
It would have even more responsible if the FDA had also placed BLACK BOX WARNINGS on Tylenol and acetaminophen containing products, but I suspect FDA is a victim of "Regulatory Capture", and no one at FDA had the courage to speak up, as Dr. Woodcock of FDA explained to me in a letter in 2012, "the science was not there yet"..
.Well, it is now, and I suggest every parent and Autism stakeholder bombard the FDA, the Media, the IACC, and petition the LORD himself to stop this massacre....Also, a few well placed trial lawyers might get the ball rolling, and I can be reached to testify at my E-mail address above...
Lastly, Sonia, knowing the causes of Autism can and will lead to mitigation and even near-cure therapies soon. For now, the important thing is to get the word out and stop the use of Acetaminophen/Tylenol, as Motrin is a safe alternative.
"That's all I have to say about that"-Forrest Gump.
Kerry Scott Lane M.D. www.PalmBeachAutismInstitute.org

This is an excellent review of this crucial piece of solving tha Puzzle of Autism.
For more info Google "Autism Gliotoxin " and You tube " Autism Acetaminophen"
From my lecture in 2013.
Make this go Viral!!! ... For the sake of our children !
Kerry Scott Lane MD
Palm Beach Autism Institute

Dr Lane. You're the one who can make this information "go viral" more than anyone, by simply being willing to speak to or write Karen Weintraub, the national journalist who already asked you about it. I don't understand why you haven't yet, if you're as concerned as you sound. What's up?

I would be interested in seeing if anyone has looked at the formulation of children's tylenol. What has changed over the years? We gave tylenol to kids back in the 60s and 70s yet there was no sharp rise in autism. Is it the dyes/preservatives/ artificial flavors or sweeteners that are a factor? I would be interested in other's thoughts.
Another event that bothers me is when they pulled all of the children's liquid meds off the market. Money is the reason these companies exist so what made them agree to this mass voluntary recall? I would love to know the answer to that one.

What changed, Pat, is the CDC warned the American public in 1980 that giving a child aspirin might induce Reye's syndrome, and everyone switched to acetaminophen (Tylenol). Jon Pangborn of the ARI also implicated 1980 as the year our epidemic began, based on thousands of parents' reports since the 60s. You can read about it in my paper Did acetaminophen provoke the autism epidemic? – pdf available from Alternative Medicine Review at and on my website

okay, I read the article with an opened mind and heart. Now, where do we go from here? What can be done for all that are afflicted with autism already? The child with autism becomes a man or woman with autism and their parents are getting older and older. What we need now is more effective therapies and awareness. Thank you.